After I Found Out My Boyfriend Was Pretending to Be Poor - Chapter 3

Naturally, I wasn’t going to sit around waiting for Huo Yanchuan to turn up and make trouble.

He belonged to the untouchable elite. Us ordinary nobodies might not be able to fight him, but surely we could hide from him.

I’d just finished a project at work, and we were entering a quiet period. I took some annual leave and went traveling to unwind.

On the day I left, I didn’t forget to nurture my relationship with Huo Yanchuan.

[The baby and I both miss you.]

Still simmering with anger, he hauled his battered but determined self out of his hospital bed without another word.

[You two-faced little bitch, just wait. I’ll expose you to your face.]

Through the camera at my apartment door, I could see Zhou Xinglan keeping vigil outside, looking utterly lost, like an abandoned husband.

Huo Yanchuan ran straight into him when he arrived.

Uh-oh. That wasn’t going to help the misunderstanding.

Zhou Xinglan knocked him to the floor with a single punch.

“You still dare come looking for her? You think I’m dead?”

Huo Yanchuan had put up with this all night. At last, he exploded.

“Can’t you see she’s playing you? If I don’t beat some sense into you, what kind of friend am I?”

They started pummeling each other.

That made up nicely for missing last night’s live show.

The next three days were unexpectedly peaceful.

Perhaps I wasn’t adjusting well to the new place. My stomach had started aching the day before. By that morning, it hurt so badly I was drenched in cold sweat, my arms and legs weak.

Doubled over, I booked a car. I’d barely made it out the door when I ran into a grim-faced Huo Yanchuan.

His face was mottled with bruises, with dark circles under both eyes. He looked as worn-out as a fugitive.

“Xia Ran…”

He came at me through gritted teeth.

Before he could touch me, a cramp tore through my stomach and dropped me to my knees.

I was deathly pale and shaking all over with pain. Terrified he’d use the opportunity to get back at me, I found a fierce will to survive.

“Quick! The baby—the baby might not make it!”

When Huo Yanchuan saw the blood running down my legs, he went blank.

The sight left him dazed. He stammered, “I… I’ve never touched you. How can you be pregnant?”

Then it finally dawned on him.

His face drained of color, and he asked in a trembling voice, “The baby is…”

I gave him a feeble look, then passed out from the pain.

Through the haze, I heard a shrill, grief-stricken cry.

When the pain woke me again, I was lying in Huo Yanchuan’s Mercedes. He was driving like a madman toward the hospital, muttering to himself.

“The baby has to be okay. If anything happens to it, Zhou Xinglan will kill me.”

He was on the verge of tears.

I’d have felt bad if I hadn’t lied to him.

I took out my phone and found the video of him encouraging Zhou Xinglan to pretend he was poor and deceive me.

Huo Yanchuan nearly slammed on the brakes. He looked at me guiltily, so nervous his palms were sweating.

“You… you knew all along?”

The pain had me sobbing too hard to speak properly. My words came in fragments.

“If Zhou Xinglan hadn’t pretended he was poor to test me, I wouldn’t have broken up with him in anger. Maybe nothing would have happened to the baby…”

“I know I’m not good enough for him. Nobody thought we should be together. Even you told him to break up with me.”

“But I just wanted to raise the child on my own and have a decent life… Why won’t fate even let me have that?”

I clutched Huo Yanchuan’s arm like it was my last hope, staring at him with stubborn determination.

“Yan, the baby’s going to be okay, isn’t it?”

Guilt and remorse covered his face. He looked as if he’d gladly slap himself senseless. His voice shook with panic as he desperately reassured me.

“Don’t worry. The baby will be fine.”

I nodded and went in for the kill.

“If I lose the baby, I don’t want to live either.”

Every trace of color left his face. He didn’t dare say a word.

After a long struggle with his conscience, he made a solemn promise.

“I’ll take responsibility for you.”

I blinked. “What?”

He closed his eyes in despair, as though making the hardest decision of his life.

“Whether the baby’s okay or not, I’ll take responsibility for you. Until you find someone you want to spend your life with.”

By the time we reached the nearest hospital, the medical escort I’d hired was there too.

When I’d realized something was wrong that morning, I was already in too much pain to get up. I didn’t know the area or anyone in it, and I valued my life enough to hire professional help.

The escort had a wheelchair ready and wheeled me into the emergency department.

I took the chance to send Huo Yanchuan off to buy me a change of clothes. After what I’d said in the car, his nerves were stretched to breaking point. He did whatever I told him.

“Don’t worry, sir,” the escort assured him. “I’m a professional.”

The tests showed it had all been a false alarm.

Menstrual cramps and a stomach spasm had hit at the same time. I was going to live.

I’d never had period pain before. This time, it was bad enough to make me question my entire existence.

When Huo Yanchuan hurried back with the clothes, his face full of worry, I decided to bluff him.

“The baby’s gone.”

He turned white again and started toward the doctor, looking shattered, to find out what had happened.

Then I said lightly, “Wheel me up to the rooftop for some fresh air. I miss my baby.”

The shopping bag hit the floor.

Huo Yanchuan sank to his knees at my feet. He took my hand and slapped his own face with it, terrified I might do something to myself.

“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have come up with that stupid idea to test your relationship. Hit me if you want, but please don’t hurt yourself.”

Apparently, his brain still wasn’t back online. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I took his hand and slowly placed it on my stomach.

“You said you’d take responsibility for me, didn’t you?”

Painful conflict flickered in his eyes. At last, he nodded in resignation.

Once I’d changed into clean clothes, I held out my arms.

“Yan, carry me back. I want to leave this sad place.”

He froze, blushing, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse. He told himself he was only doing it out of duty. He absolutely couldn’t let me get the wrong idea about him.

A moment later, he bent stiffly and picked me up like a robot with no feelings.

Oh my. His chest was even broader and firmer than my ex-boyfriend’s.

A big, nurturing man with impressive pecs.

I pressed my face against him and kept enjoying the sensation. My hands weren’t idle either.

Zhou Xinglan arrived in a rush, just in time to see this unfortunate scene.